Veronica's Global Blog

The Collapse of Communism

2009-05-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

Joseph Stalin was a very mean dictator,he would kill many innocent people. He also tried to make people into communist by forming the cominform. Stalin wanted to improve the agriculture in eastern Europe and USSR so he made all the farms into different classes the richer farmers didn't like this and decided to start a protest,they destroyed crops and livestock. Stalin made a class war by the end of the 193Os the land had very little crops and livestock this lead to depression and caused millions of peasants to starve to death. Greed was also a big reason for the fall of communism,Stalin would also punish people who didn't work in working camps he would send them to slaves camps. The United states would make propaganda saying the USSR was evil and made the entire nation go against the USSR.
The reason the Berlin wall was torn down was because the east Germans and west Germans didn't like being separated and knowing they couldn't cross the border bothered them. The East Germans were communist and that's why they decided to built this wall. On November 9,1989 many people gathered near the Berlin wall and tore it down themselves making the separation between east and west German's no more.
The Soviet Union was separated into 15 different countries all of them had their own separate flags. Many things became better after the collapse of the soviet union. The cold war ended,the economy became better for the east and west German when Berlin wall came down. When capitalism came to Russia it caused many people do get higher paying jobs since farming was no longer a high paying job. People didn't worry about nuclear annihilation and also many people turned on communism.

Nelson Mandela And Apartheid

2009-05-06T06:12:00.000-07:00

Apartheid:means to be separated by race and also by other things like social class,if you were smart,if you were in a mixed marriage or had intercourse with people of a different race.
Nelson Mandela stood up for his people. He went against apartheid and racism. Despite many years in jail he became Africa's first black president. He fought in a peaceful way instead directly going to violence.
Mandela was a leader of an underground political movement called the African National Congress (ANC). In 1964 he wasn sentenced to life in prison the white goverment just wanted to stop Mandela from trying to free the people of africa. After 27 years in prison he was let go.
In Febuary 1993 Mandela and President F.W de Klerk decided to form a government of unity. The elections were held in April 1994, with the ANC winning 62% of the vote and Mandela becoming president.

Flim Lesson:Shchindler's List

2009-03-04T06:31:00.000-08:00

In the movie "Schindler's list" it was amazing how they put so much detail in this movie. It ,to me,illustrated the holocaust in all its horror and craziness. The way they tortured these people was shocking to me,how they killed people like it was nothing made me feel so bad for all those people suffering.
One image that will always stay with me is the mountains of dead people ,they even killed children, which didn't really surprise me. when they took the Jew's out of the Krakow ghettos it was so mean how they removed them from their homes there were people that were yelling that they work for Schindler and that they cant take them out of their homes but the Germans didn't care,they would kill anyone that got in their way,there were people that were still in their homes they were hiding in their floorboards and the German's came and killed them all. after taking massive amounts of people out of their homes they were going to take them to be pretty much slaves. they separated the women and the men,taking only the healthy people the ones that were sick they would sent them away to get killed. At the end of movie it showed how the jews were free but had no idea where to go. This traumatized so many jews,it made their lifes so difficult. The holocaust was a horrible thinq and hope the world doesn't ever come to something like this.

The treaty of versailles (ended WW1)

2009-02-24T06:26:00.000-08:00

The Treaty of Versailles was a treaty of peace concluded at Versailles between commissions representing the United States and Great Britain. It was arranged in 1782, and was formally ratified on September the 3rd,1783. Jay, Adams, Franklin and Laurens formed the American Commission. By this treaty the absolute independence of the United States was recognized. Florida was returned to Spain; the Americans relinquished their pretensions to the territory north of Lake Brie; the St Lawrence river system, from the western end of Lake Superior to the forty-fifth parallel, was made the boundary; from the forty-fifth parallel to the sea, the boundary followed the highlands after an uncertain fashion, and was long a matter of bitter dispute; British right of navigation of the Mississippi was yielded, England according in return the American right of fishing on the Canadian and Newfoundland coasts; Loyalists and Tories were to be protected in America; English troops were to be withdrawn without destroying any property, or taking away any negro slaves belonging to Americans. This treaty was in reality signed in Paris, but is generally known by the above name, which properly belongs only to the treaty between England and France.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the modernization of turkey

2009-02-24T06:03:00.000-08:00

Secular:Relatinq to reliqion and scared thinqs.

Ataturk wanted to modernize turkey by qivinq it a new sense of diqnity equality and happiness.

Atatürk instituted the forms of democracy, including a unicameral parliament (the Grand National Assembly), a responsible government, led mostly by Prime Minister Ismet INONU, and a modern bureaucracy. But he allowed only one party--his own Republican People's party--to assure rapid modernization and avoid destructive opposition by vested interests. Turkish nationalism was emphasized as a means of rallying popular support for the drastic, revolutionary measures needed to modernize the nation. A populist program encouraged mass adult education and support for the republic through a nationwide system of Peoples' Houses. Secularism was promoted, with the disestablishment of Islam as the state religion, replacement of religious with secular institutions of education and justice, emancipation of women, adoption of modern Western clothing and Latin script, and enforcement of equality for all citizens regardless of religion.

Initial attempts to develop the economy by encouraging private enterprise foundered because of inefficient management as well as the economic crisis of the 1930s; so Atatürk developed statism--state control of the basic means of production through national banks. Friendly relations were maintained with Turkey's former subject peoples, now independent states or mandate territories, through a series of alliances. In the last years before his death, the rise of Italian Fascism and German Nazism led Atatürk into close relations with Britain and France.

Mustafa Kemal, later called Kemal Atatürk ("Father of the Turks"), won fame as a military commander during World War I and led the revolution that established the Republic of Turkey in 1923. As president of the republic, he pursued a vigorous policy of modernization. In 1934, when the Turks were required to adopt surnames, Kemal was given the name Atatürk by the parliament.

Flim lesson - "Ghandi"

2009-02-12T06:11:00.001-08:00

In the film "Gandhi" there was a political leader named Mohandas Gandhi that devoted his time to helping his country pull away from the rule of qreat Britain. He was peaceful man that only had one rule with his people... to not be violent towards the Britain's Gandhi said that being non violent made the Britain's look like the bad quys because in reality Gandhi never did anything wronq he was just fiqhtinq for what he believed was riqht he fouqht for the independence of his people.

Gandhi led a lot of protest aqainst the Britain's. For example the salt march Gandhi led he was protestinq aqainst the raise in salt and decided to take his people to the salt factories and recollect their own salt. Gandhi also protested aqainst the clothes that were made by Britain's people he decided to start makinq his own clothes to show the Britain's thinqs were not needed.

Gandhi was arrested several times durinq these times he was arrested he fasted meaninq he did not eat or drink for a cause. the Britain's took this problem into consideration knowinq that if Gandhi died in jail there would be a revolution in india. By 1944 the struqqle for indian independence was soon to be over the British qoverment aqreed to qive them independence on one condition..that the muslim leaque and the conqress party resolve their problems.

India soon qot their independence in 1947,Gandhi hoped for peace and unity between the hindus and muslims he fasted in the hopes that these two reliqions qet alonq but exactly 12 days ater fastinq he was assinated by a hindu. Gandhi became an important role model in india and a leqend in the world.